life is pretty awesome

What a great week it's been! No, I haven't been on a holiday by myself, nor have I locked the children in the understairs cupboard. And I also don't mean boast, I am just happy. We spent a good week living side by side without being much in each others way. Ah the joys of older children! Even Alistair and James were happy to just do whatever little boys do, making a mess, jumping on the trampoline, kicking a ball, playing their Nintendos and they didn't even destroy anything, and they only lost one shoe. Of course I couldn't neglect them all day long so I booked them into  a holiday club for the afternoon, football and tennis at the local school. It was free!! Annie and Sam are fairly self contained anyway but to prevent boredom and arguments, the computer time restriction for Sam was lifted and he could stay in bed more or less for as long as he wanted. Annie went to  a sewing class for three afternoons. She also broke her wrist. It is an uncomplicated buckle fracture in case you are wondering. This is a partial fracture that heals quickly with a stookie. Annie has a splint instead, which gives her plenty of freedom to do what she likes to do. She'll tell you all about it in her own guest blog post about her sewing adventure.

I put all but the essential housework on hold. The house is not at its best but we are happy. I did clean the bathrooms today because I do have a grime limit. If I consider going to pee in the garden because I can't bear the loo, it is time to clean. I took Jack for long walks along the canal and the river Kelvin whilst the boys were at footie. The weather was ok Monday and has been perfect since. 

My joy of walking in the sunshine was diminished by the intensive search for a missing young woman who disappeared less than 5 minutes walk away from our house. I feel shaken. My thoughts are with her family and her friends. Her remains have been found. May she rest in peace.

Apart from walking, having coffee with two friends and staring into mid air I did plenty of sewing this week and I am very happy to present the first item of clothing made for myself. It even fits! I thought it was no good using fabric that I didn't love and I spent a long time searching for the right one. I find the fabric shops we have in this town disappointing. Don't get me wrong, there is a big selection of fabric but there is just nothing special. If I spend time making something to wear I want it to be different. I am I found a Robert Kaufman fabric that I really liked, the name is too long to bother with here but it has a retro look to it and is super bright.

Isn't this little bird lovely? I won it in Gina's give away just before Easter. Check out her blog, Fan My Flame, it is a great place to visit. I am hoping to make some birds myself. Soon.

The pattern I used was the Sailor Top by Fancy Tiger Crafts. I was determined to use the time off work to make at least one of those tops and bought the pdf pattern for immediate download. I have had some terrible pdf patterns with parts not matching and the scale not being correct (despite printing the pattern without scaling as is usually required) but this one is a good one. All pages were clearly labelled with numbers and letters to match up. Easy. The advantage of a pdf pattern is that it is printed on normal paper, making it sturdy, which is good for multiple use. The instructions are clear and there is a glossary of terms at the end, which always helps. I did make some adjustments, for example I understitched all the facings, which gives a neat finish. I do like it neat. For the same reason I hand baste tricky bits. 

The only fiddly part was the gathered top, which goes all the way round. To get the gather right, the instructions said to divide the top into four parts (front, back and the two sleeve tops) and make two rows of machine basting on each of the four sides. It also suggested to set the tension to maximum, which does half the gathering for you. I only did the second row at high tension. Both good tips. Still, it was a bit fiddly to get it neat. I couldn't bear to do this a second time and hand basted to facing and top gather before stitching. Twice. I removed all the basting before turning the facing over and sewing it in the ditch. This was new to me, it means sewing right in the groove where the facing and the top meet, from the outside. It is pretty much invisible.

For good measure here a photo with my now to so coiffed hair, double chin and sun burn. Annie likes to take diagonal shots. I don't see the attraction but there you go.

Stay tuned for the next post, which will be another sewing post but written by Annie. Until then, have a lovely few days! Cx

P.S. Normal blether shall resume once I've got the sewing bug out of my system.